How to Become Board Certified in Occupational Medicine

It’s said that occupational and environmental medicine is a discipline where clinical medicine, toxicology, and public health intersect. Occupational medicine centers on the health of workers, including the ability to perform work, along with the physical, chemical, biological, and social environments of the workplace. It also focuses on the health outcomes of environmental exposures. This is an important profession that provides a variety of healthcare services and education to organizations as well as individuals. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure high standards of health and safety in the workplace are being attained.

Environmental health is the study of the interaction between environmental and workplace hazards with human health and disease. This includes an emphasis on chronic exposure to various stressors that can trigger a wide range of mental, physical, and emotional disorders.

Physicians address the promotion of health in the workplace and the prevention of occupational and environmental injury, illness, and disability. While it used to be that physicians were simply reactive in this field, primarily treating workers that were already injured or exposed to safety and environmental workplace hazards—today’s modern world of practicing looks different. Workplaces are becoming more complex venues. Preventing disease and promoting wellness among workers is much more commonplace.

How to Become Board Certified in Occupational Medicine

To become board certified in occupational medicine, the American Board of Preventative Medicine states there are three general requirements:

• Medical License—This is an unrestricted and currently valid license to practice medicine in at least one state, territory, or commonwealth.

• Medical Degree—This requires graduation from a medical school in the United States that was, at the time, accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, a school of osteopathic medicine approved by the American Osteopathic Association, an accredited medical school in Canada, or from a medical school located outside the United States and Canada that has been approved by the Board.

• Graduate Coursework—This necessitates a minimum of 15 total equivalent hours of graduate-level courses in core areas of biostatistics, epidemiology, social and behavioral sciences, health services administration, and environmental health sciences. The graduate-level coursework should appropriately reflect the five content areas (listed above) to ensure applicants are well-grounded in foundational public health knowledge. Courses that may include multiple content areas must meet the equivalent academic requirements and content of the traditional individual courses.

Pathways to Board Certification

There are a variety of pathways available to achieve board certification in occupational medicine through the American Board of Preventative Medicine.

• Residency Pathway—This applies to all applicants who have completed an ACGME-accredited or a Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) residency of not less than two years, in the same specialty certification is being sought.

• Complementary Pathway—This is designed for physicians who want to make a mid-career shift into a specialized practice. To qualify for the complementary pathway, physicians must complete two or more years of training in a clinical residency program. They must also complete one year with an ACGME-accredited residency program in the specialty area where certification is being sought.

• Special Pathway: Current diplomates of the American Board of Preventative Medicine who hold certification in a primary specialty, such as Aerospace Medicine, Occupational Medicine, and Public Health and General Preventive Medicine, can apply for one additional ABPM primary specialty through the Special Pathway.

• Alternative Pathway: This pathway is unique to those who graduated from a school of medicine or school of osteopathic medicine before January 1, 1984. Those who haven’t formally completed all the components described in the above pathways but whose training and experience seem suitable to the Board may be given the green light to begin formal training. This pathway is coming to an end and will no longer be available for ABPM Certification after the 2022 examination cycle.

When looking at how to become board certified in occupational medicine, it’s important to note it’s not a one-and-done process. There is upkeep involved.

Certification Maintenance

Once you’ve become board certified in occupational medicine, you must keep active and pay annual fees for each certificate. Maintenance of Certification (MOC) is the board-certified process for the assessment of continuing competencies of physicians. The American Board of Preventive Medicine Maintenance of Certification program progresses and advances to meet the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) requirements. The four parts include:

• Professionalism and professional standing
• Lifelong learning and self-assessment
• Assessment of knowledge, judgment, and skills
• Improvement in medical practice